Rememberance and Regeneration in Berlin

Being the organised Altmanns that we are, we'd booked a bus to take us from the ski slopes of Tignes, France, to the airport at Geneva for our flight to Berlin. There we'd meet Jane's parents for 5 days. However when we bought the bus tickets we did trust that the French ticket vendor's nodding meant he understood the difference between the English words "Saturday" and "Sunday". After some tears and several very poor attempts to communicate with various French people, we determined that a 230 Euro taxi ride was our only option to get to our flight on time (or face the 28 hour bus trip back to London without a visit to Berlin). When it came to paying for the taxi Greg had a brief lesson in currencies and conversion when he realised Switzerland does not solely use the Euro and that 100 Swiss Francs is only worth 60 Euro.

We did eventually arrive safely (and poorer) in Berlin, staying with the Mitchells in a terrific little apartment right in the centre of the city.So much 20th century history was centred right in Berlin: the 2nd World War, The Holocaust and of course the Berlin Wall which divided the East from the West during the Cold War... And who can forget Michael Jackson did a tour here in 1988! We all agreed the best introduction to the city would be a walking tour. So many enticing museums and galleries we soon learnt we'd need closer to a year than a week to do it justice. We made a list of the places we'd most like to see and made ourselves familiar with Berlin's terrific public transport system.

The most famous street in Berlin is "Unter den Linden", meaning "Under the Lime Trees". Many historical buildings line this street. Our walking tour spent a good hour down here so you'll have to do the trip to get all the information. At the end of the road is the well-known landmark, The Brandenburg Gate. Built between 1788 and 1791, it is a major symbol of Germany. The Berlin Wall actually crossed the front of the gate and huge curtains were hung between the pillars to stop the East being able to look through to the West (or the other way around). The Bronze statue on top is called the Quadriga. Napoleon actually stole the Quadriga and moved it to Paris in 1806 (after he defeated Prussia). It was returned in 1814 when Napoleon was defeated!
The Fernsehturm (TV tower) dominates the skyline of the city. You'll see it in the background of many of our photos. It's based at Alexanderplatz (the huge square) and is the second highest building in the European Union at 368 meters. Visits to the top are pricey so we opted for the cheaper view. We rode the lifts to the top of the Reichstag Building for afternoon tea (coffee and cake is a German-Austrian tradition after all!).The Reichstag is the seat of the German parliament. It was severely damaged during the 2ndWW but has been lovingly restored. In fact the Western façade was the site for Michael Jackson's concert.
The New Jewish Museum gave insight into the background of the Jewish religion throughout time. We learnt more about the Holocaust and were all very affected by the memorials and belongings from persecuted Jews. Daniel Libeskind designed the building and spine-tingling features within it, including the Holocaust Tower and Memory Void.
Another sobering experience was our visit at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Its a memorial consisting of 2711 concrete slabs covering an area of 19,000 square metres. It was designed by Peter Eisenman. Berlin has some other touching memorials. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which depicts the sculptress holding the son she lost to the war.We also saw the Book Burning Memorial. On the night of May 10, 1933, in most German university towns, nationalist students marched in torchlight parades "against the un-German spirit." The students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of "un-German" books. If you look closely you might see the empty bookshelves through the glass.The Berlin wall separated East Berlin and West Berlin for 28 years, from the day construction began on August 13, 1961 until it was dismantled in 1989. The intent after the 2nd World War was for the occupying powers to govern Germany together inside the 1947 borders. However Cold War tension caused the French, British and American zones to be formed into the Federal Republic of Germany (and West Berlin), excluding the Soviet zone, which then formed the German Democratic Republic (including East Berlin). The wall was put up to stop the huge number of people leaving the Eastern (communist) side to live on the Western side. During the time that the wall separated East from West at least 133 people were confirmed killed trying to cross the Wall into West Berlin, according to official figures. A part of the Berlin Wall has been left as a museum. The wall was originally over 155 kms long. The no man's land between the two barriers became widely known as the "death strip".
This church sat in No man's land until 1983 when it was destroyed, only 6 years before the wall came down.
A new chapel has been built on the sight to commemorate the church and all that happened here.Berlin truly was an amazing place to visit. A sobering place, full of lessons to be potentially learnt from past mistakes. The people are trying to move on and make new beginnings without forgetting the past. Berlin's rate of building and reconstruction is third in the world after Dubai and Shanghai, a sign that the city is changing and regenerating after a very difficult century.